CNN is reporting that at least 150 people were killed by gun violence in more than 400 shootings across America during the Fourth of July weekend as the nation’s leaders continue to refuse calls for common sense regulation of firearms.
The end of the COVID-19 pandemic era lockdown has greeted cities nationwide with a surge in violent crime, as severe economic inequality and a proliferation of unregulated guns prove to be a volatile combination.
According to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 10,340 shooting deaths and 12,342 suicides involving firearms since 2021 began.
The CNN report was based on data which included the number of shooting incidents and gun violence victims nationally over a 72-hour period from Friday through Sunday, but the numbers could rise as information is updated.
Jasayde Holder had just finished fourth grade at Dane Barse School, but Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said the 10-year-old girl was shot and killed on the Fourth of July.
Webb-McRae said Vineland, New Jersey, police were called shortly before 11:30 p.m. Sunday to Inspira Medical Center-Vineland, where the girl succumbed to her injuries.
Prosecutors said the child was hit in what appeared to have been a drive-by shooting at a Vineland home. Investigators are working to determine the intended target of the gunfire.
People who live in the area are being asked to share home surveillance images captured between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Sunday. Anyone with information is asked to call investigators.
In New York, where gun violence has been rising to levels not seen in years, there were 26 victims from 21 shootings from Friday to Sunday, a decrease from the same period last year when 30 people were shot in 25 shootings, the New York Police Department said.
On July 4, the city experienced 12 shooting incidents that involved 13 victims, an increase from last year when there were eight shootings and eight victims, according to the NYPD.
So far this year, gun violence incidents in New York have spiked almost 40% over the same period in 2020, with 767 shootings and 885 victims. CNN has requested data on how many of the shootings over the weekend resulted in homicides.
In Chicago, after Police Superintendent David Brown raised concerns before the “most challenging weekend of the year” for police, 83 people were shot, including 14 killed, in shootings from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday, according to a CNN review of preliminary Chicago Police Department data. The injured included a 5-year-old girl wounded on Sunday afternoon and a 6-year-old girl shot early Monday.
One of the 14 people killed was a member of the Illinois Army National Guard, CNN affiliate WLS reported. His family identified him on social media as Chrys Carvajal, though the Cook County medical examiner has not officially released his name.
Lt. Col. Brad Leighton confirmed to CNN that Carvajal was assigned to the Company L, Recruitment Sustainment Program, Recruiting and Retention Battalion, of the Illinois Army National Guard.
“(Carvajal) was new to the Illinois National Guard and was to be assigned to a transportation unit. He had recently completed Army basic training,” Leighton said. “Our hearts go out Pvt. 1st Class Carvajal’s family and friends.
Two Chicago police officers were injured in an overnight shooting as an individual opened fire while officers were dispersing a crowd of several thousand people and made more than 60 arrests, police said. Both are expected to survive.
Unlike other cities experiencing a spike in violent crime, the homicide rate in Chicago through June is 2% lower than the same period in 2020. The number of victims is still 14% higher.
A reason for the drop was a less violent June where Chicago saw a 20% drop in homicides compared to last year (98 instead of 78), a 13% drop in shootings (416 compared to 363) and an 8% decrease in shooting victims (540 compared to 499).
Violence across America is rising but Congress has failed to enact legislation that would require criminal record background checks for everyone buying a gun.
In the wake of numerous mass shootings over several decades, policymakers have ignored renewed demands to close loopholes in the law written after a deranged gunman shot President Ronald Reagan.
In suburban Atlanta, golf professional Gene Siller was fatally shot at a country club on Saturday, and police are still looking for the suspect, according to Cobb County police. Siller, 41, was found unresponsive with an “apparent gunshot wound to the head” and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Two other gunshot victims were also found on the course.
Police are still searching for the suspect, who has not been identified.
There were several mass shootings over the holiday weekend. CNN defines a mass shooting as an incident with four or more people killed or wounded by gunfire, excluding the shooter.
Eight people were injured early Sunday morning in a shooting near a car wash in Fort Worth, Texas, after an argument between a group of men, according to a Fort Worth police news release.
One of the men left during the argument, returned with a gun and began firing “toward groups of people,” and multiple people returned gunfire, the release said. Most of the victims, who are in stable condition, are believed to be innocent bystanders, police said.
In Norfolk, Virginia, four children were shot on Friday afternoon, including a 6-year-old girl who was initially reported to be suffering life-threatening injuries but is now in stable condition, according to Norfolk police. The victims also included a 14-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl, and a 16-year-old boy, all of whom are expected to fully recover.
Norfolk police said detectives have arrested and charged a 15-year-old boy in connection with the shooting.
One person and eleven others were injured in a shooting at a block party attended by several hundred people in Toledo, Ohio on Sunday night, according to Toledo police. A 17-year-old is dead after he was flown by helicopter to the University of Michigan Hospital for treatment, according to Toledo Police Chief George Kral.
Two victims, a 51-year-old and a 19-year old, are in critical condition, Kral said, and the other nine people wounded are in stable condition, their ages ranging from an 11-year-old to three 19-year-olds.
Police in Cincinnati, Ohio, said two males, ages 16 and 19, were killed and three others injured at a holiday celebration at a park late Sunday night. The two males were “engaged in a verbal altercation that resulted in the two exchanging gunfire” and the other victims were caught in the crossfire, Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said at a news briefing on Monday.
Two girls, ages 16 and 17, and a 15-year-old boy were wounded in the shooting, Isaac said. The 17-year-old girl is in critical condition with a gunshot wound to her back while the other two victims suffered gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, Isaac said.
In Dallas, police responded to two separate shootings on July 4, one of which involved five men who were shot. Three of the victims were pronounced dead after being transported to a nearby hospital, police said. A 61-year-old man was killed in another incident after being shot “multiple times in the street during a disturbance,” and died at a local hospital, according to Dallas police.